Train and flight ticket cheer once again in Jharkhand

Passengers queue up maintaining social distance to buy tickets at Ranchi railway station on Friday. (Prashant Mitra)

A visibly elated Ranjit Kumar was taking a selfie at the reservation counter of Ranchi station on Friday morning when it opened for booking after a long gap.

“It’s certainly an occasion to celebrate as I never saw such a long closure in my life,” Kumar, 44, a resident of Ratu Road area of Ranchi, said when asked about his exuberance, adding he had remained indoors when curfew was imposed in the city for a few days in the past but never saw such a prolonged lockdown.

“Could you ever guess trains would remain suspended for two months?” he said, to strengthen his argument.

The railways announced that 100 pairs of trains would start running across the country from June 1.

“But there will be only one train — 12366 Ranchi-Patna Janshatabdi Express — that will run from Ranchi that day,” said Suhas Lohakare, public relations officer of Ranchi railway division.

He said that booking of advance reservation tickets began at Ranchi, Hatia and Muri on Friday morning.

Similarly, two railway ticket booking counters opened at Tatanagar station on Friday.

One counter each also opened at Rourkela, Sini, Chaibasa, Bamra, Barbil, Chakradharpur, Jharsuguda and Dongaposhi — all under Chakradharpur railway division of South Eastern Railway (SER ).

Sanjay Ghosh, chief public relations officer of the SER, said five trains will travel through Tatanagar.